1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recycling apparatus, a recycling method, and a recycled product.
2) Description of the Related Art
In the contemporary society, giving consideration to environmental issues is recognized as more important than ever. Enterprises come to be evaluated based on their achievement in giving considerations to the environments. Therefore, it has become important for enterprises to carry out environmental protection activities. In order to effectively utilize resources and reduce wastes, it is urgently required to establish a recycling system that reuses products, parts, and materials by recycling them.
Recycling methods, or recycling processes, are broadly classified into the following six categories.
1. Own Reutilization
The own reutilization refers to a recycling processing of a product user reutilizing a part of the product. Taking a copying machine as an example, a user refills a toner into an empty toner container (i.e., a toner bottle) and uses the toner container again. In this case, the value of the item to be recycled (i.e., the toner bottle, in this case) is not lowered. Therefore, it can be said that the own reutilization has a largest effect of lowering the environmental burden, which can recycle products at minimum cost.
2. Product Reutilization
The product reutilization refers to a recycling processing of recovering a once-used product from a market (hereinafter referred to as a recovered product), and carrying out a predetermined reproduction processing to this recovered product, for reutilization of the product as a reproduced product. This processing has an advantage in that it has a very large effect of lowering the environmental burden, as a major part of the recovered product can be used again as it is.
3. Part Reutilization
The part reutilization refers to a recycling processing of taking out parts or units that constitute a recovered product from the recovered product, for reutilization of the taken-out parts or units again for new products. This processing has an advantage in that it has a large effect of lowering the environmental burden, as the process of manufacturing the parts or units can be omitted.
4. Material Recycling
The material recycling refers to a recycling processing of decomposing a recovered product into materials, sorting out the materials, and carrying out a certain processing to these materials, for reutilization of the materials as reproduced materials. The material recycling has a closed loop material recycling to reutilize the materials for products in the same field, and an open loop material recycling to utilize the materials for products in other fields.
5. Changing into Raw Materials
The changing into raw materials refers to a recycling processing of decomposing a recovered product into materials, sorting out the materials, and returning the materials to raw materials, for reutilization of the raw materials. Based on the changing of a used product into raw materials again, it is possible to realize zero wastes.
6. Energy Recovery
The energy recovery refers to a recycling processing of treating a recovered item to utilize energy obtained from this treating. As an example of the energy recovery, a recovered plastic is combusted to utilize the thermal energy generated from the combustion.
The above six types of recycling are described in the preferable order of 1, 2, 3, . . . , and 6. In other words, the own reutilization is the most preferable method. The next preferable method is the product reutilization, and the next desirable method is the part utilization. For enterprises, how to implement a continuous recycling based on the most preferable method by considering economics is an important point in promoting the recycling.
Products become inevitably old-fashioned in the market. Therefore, in general, a time comes when a product is not useful in the market (i.e., not useful for users) and the recycling the product has no economic value. Consequently, in actual practice, it is not possible to semipermanently recycle the recovered product based on only the most preferable method of the own reutilization. A product that has become old-fashioned as the product cannot be used based on the most preferable method of the own reutilization. Depending on an old-fashioned level, the product is recycled based on the least preferable recycling method in the above order. Therefore, an enterprise that implements recycling needs to carry out a plurality of types of recycling, instead of carrying out only one specific type of recycle processing.
The recycling processing is different depending on a kind of a recovered product (such as a copying machine, for example). Even for one kind of a recovered product, the recycling method is different depending on a part or a unit that constitutes the recovered product. Therefore, in promoting the recycling, it is necessary to carry out a plurality of types of recycling processing at the same time.
There is a recycling system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-181958 as a conventional system that can effectively carry out the above recycling processing. FIG. 17 explains about the recycling system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-181958. This recycling system has a plurality of stages as denoted by reference numerals 1 to 20. The stage 1 shows a production of a raw material. In general, a raw material supplier produces and supplies this raw material. The stage 2 shows a production of a raw material that uses a new raw material or a reproduced raw material. In general, a material manufacturer produces and supplies this material.
The stage 3 shows a production of a part that uses a new raw material or a reproduced raw material. In general, a part manufacturer produces and supplies this material. The stage 4 shows an assembly of a product that uses a new part or a reproduced part. In general, a product manufacturer assembles and supplies this product. The stage 5 shows a marketing of a product that uses a new part or a reproduced part. In general, a product marketer markets this product.
The stage 6 shows a product using state/maintenance state. In general, a user (in the market) uses the product. The stage 7 shows an own reutilization. The stage 8 shows a product recovery/selection. In general, the product is recovered from the user (in the market) to a predetermined recovery center, and the next stage (the stage 9 or the stage 10) is selected.
The stage 9 shows a reproduction of the product. In general, the product is sent from the recovery center to a predetermined product reproduction center, and the product is reproduced. The stage 10 shows a decomposition/sorting of the product. In general, the product is sent from the recovery center to a predetermined recycling center, and the product is reproduced. The stage 11 shows a reproduction of the part. In general, the product is sent from the recycling center to a predetermined part reproduction center, and the part is reproduced. The stage 12 shows a supply of the reproduced part to a product manufacturer in other field, which corresponds to the open recycling.
The stage 13 shows a crushing of the part or the product. A single material part is crushed, or a plurality of material parts are crushed and the materials obtained by crushing the parts are sorted. In general, the part(s) or the product is sent from the recycling center or the recovery center to a predetermined shredder trader, where the part(s) or the product is crushed and sorted. The stage 14 shows a reproduction of the material. The crushed parts from which the material can be reproduced are sent from the stage 13 to a material reproducer, who reproduces the material. When the reproduced material is sent to the part manufacturer at the stage 3, this corresponds to the closed loop material recycle processing. When the reproduced material is sent to a recycled-material user at the next stage 15, this corresponds to the open loop material recycle processing described later.
The stage 15 shows usage of the reproduced material. The reproduced material is sent from the stage 14 to the recycled-material user, who uses this recycled material. The stage 16 shows a changing of the material into a raw material. A shredder dust is changed into oil, or is thermally/chemically decomposed into a raw material. The stage 17 shows a changing of the material into a raw material. A printed-circuit board or a shredder dust is changed into a raw material based on metallurgical recycling. The stage 18 shows a using of the reproduced raw material. The reproduced raw materials are sent from the stage 16 and the stage 17 to a recycling company, who uses these reproduced raw materials. The stage 19 shows a recovery of thermal energy. A thermal energy recovery trader recovers thermal energy obtained by combusting the shredder dust. The stage 20 shows a final abandonment. In general, a final processing trader treats the wastes based on reclamation or the like.
The recycling system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-181958 is used mainly in office automation (hereinafter, “OA”) equipment such as a copying machine. It is also possible to extensively utilize this system in other products such as a home electric appliance and an automobile.
The recycling system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-181958 can effectively realize a plurality of types of recycling methods in parallel. However, in some cases, it is difficult to implement the recycling unless the system is concretized to the characteristics of the item to be recycled such as consumable goods, for example.
Problems that arise when the item to be recycled is consumables of a product are explained by taking OA equipment as an example. Consumables of OA equipment include a toner, a toner bottle that contains a toner (hereinafter simply referred to as a bottle), a toner cartridge (hereinafter simply referred to as a cartridge), and a photo conductor drum.
A first problem of recycling consumables is a handling of the toner as powder. In general, the frequency of the consumables becoming in a spent state (i.e., the frequency of recycling the consumables) is higher than the frequency of recycling the product main body. The consumables are recovered independent of the product main body overwhelmingly in a state of being detached from the main body rather than they are recovered together with the main body in a state of being contained in the main body. When the cartridge is recovered independently, there is a risk that the toner leaked out from the cartridge stains the product main body and other consumable such as the photo conductor drum at the time of extracting the cartridge from the main body. This impairs the appearance of the product, and lowers the quality of the recovered product.
After the recovery, the handling of the toner as powder has the following problems. For example the cartridge is decomposed into parts to separate metal parts from resin parts at the time of recycling this material. At this time, the toner contained in the cartridge may leak out and fly in all directions in the air, and adhere to other items to be recycled such as the copying machine main body. This lowers the quality of the recovered products. The toner is also mixed into resin components that are to be recycled, and discolors the resins, which lowers the quality of the recovered parts.
The toner lowers not only the appearance of the recovered product but also the physicality. The toner components are mainly resins, and when they adhere to a metal part such as a metal frame of the copying machine main body, the toner components work as impurities and lower the metal quality of the resin part to be recycled.
There is a recycling system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-334583 as a conventional technique of constructing a system according to the characteristics of an item to be recycled. This recycling system has, an input section that inputs information about a product, a storage section that stores a database of information about reutilization of the product, a recycling processing method decision processing section that refers to the information about reutilization of the product in the database stored in the storage section, based on the information about the product input by the input section, and decides a method of recycling this product based on a recycling rule determined in advance, and a recycling plant facility controller that functions as an output section that outputs a result of the decision made to the next process.
According to the recycling system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-334583, it is possible to implement recycling of consumables of OA equipment based on a detailed recycling processing method decision.
A second problem of recycling consumables is that it is difficult to manage a consumable recycling quantity (or a generation quantity of consumables to be recycled). The recycling frequency of consumables is higher than the recycling frequency of a product main body. Among the consumables, the timing and the frequency of recovering the cartridge are different from those of the photo conductor drum. Therefore, it is difficult to manage each item of consumables at each time of recovering the consumables.
As a conventional technique for solving the second problem, there is a recycling system of recycling waste industrial products described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-84532. According to this recycling system, an electronic tag is attached to a waste product. When a waste product is received from a user, a reader/writer is used to write basic data necessary for the processing into the electronic tag. Thereafter, the reader/writer is used to read the information written on the tag or overwrite data on the tag, thereby to decide a proper processing route for each waste product.
However, according to the recycling system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-334583, a detailed method of recovering a waste product is not shown. One of stages at which the problem of handling the toner becomes obvious is a recovery stage. Therefore, even when the recycling system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-334583 is applied to the system of recovering the toner as consumables, it is not possible to prevent a reduction in the quality of the recovered product that occurs due to the handling of the toner.
When the system of recycling waste industrial products described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-84532 is applied to consumables, it is possible to efficiently manage the consumables. However, the work of writing and reading data to/from each one electronic tag attached to each consumable item is troublesome. There is relatively small difference in sizes between the electronic tag and a consumable item such as the cartridge. Therefore, at the time of recovering and transporting consumables, the electronic tags have an inconvenience of lowering the transportation efficiency of the consumables to a half.
There are also the following problems in the transportation efficiency of consumables. Not only the frequency of recovering consumables for recycling is different from that of the OA equipment, the sizes of these items are also different. Therefore, the consumables are recovered separately from products, which results in the increase in the transportation frequency. The increase in the transportation frequency leads to the increase in the transportation cost and transportation energy. As a result, the recycling is implemented opposite to the environmental protection.
The problems in the recycling of consumables are described above. Service parts are also a part of a product main body like consumables. The service parts are common to the consumables in that the sizes of the service parts are different from the sizes of the product main body and that the frequency and the timing of recovering the service parts for recycling are different from those of the product main body. Therefore, the above problems also occur when the service parts are items for recycling.